Ascension sheriff: No arrests planned in toddler’s death

Ascension sheriff: No arrests planned in toddler’s death

PRAIRIEVILLE — The Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office has closed an investigation and will not make an arrest in the death of a 3-year-old boy who got his head caught in a partially opened car window earlier this month, deputies said.

Chief Deputy Tony Bacala said Wednesday that family, friends and neighbors told investigators that the boy, Journey Micah Tero, “routinely climbed on everything and has been known in the past to climb through open windows and into cars.”

Bacala added that investigators found small footprints in dust on the lower portion of the Chevrolet Lumina’s door below the window where the boy got his head stuck. The footprints were consistent with an apparent attempt by the boy to climb into the vehicle from the outside, Bacala said.

He said the parish Coroner’s Office has determined the cause of death was asphyxiation.

Tero’s head and neck apparently slid from an opening at the top of the window to the narrower space between the window and the frame of the car, Bacala said.

When deputies arrived at 43058 La. 931, Gonzales, the evening of Sept. 8, family told deputies the boy wandered off about 6:30 p.m. and was found moments later hanging from the window by the neck with his body outside the window.

The boy was removed from the window by family members in an attempt to revive him and was taken to an area hospital where he died about an hour later, deputies have said.

The boy lived at the home with his mother, Tristan Tero-Holton, 28, and her mother, Cherryl Brenner, 54, Bacala said.

Bacala added it appears the boy, “just for briefest of moments,” had escaped the notice of the adults at the home, who had visitors at the time.

“It just took a minute for this tragedy to happen,” Bacala said.

Listed numbers for Tero-Holton and Brenner were either incorrect or not working Wednesday.